Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Morocco’s King Mohammed VI took a seat at the African Union headquarters Tuesday for the first time in 33 years after being re-admitted by the bloc. “I am finally home”, King Mohammed VI said as the African Union readmitted Morocco, deferring the issue of …
Read More »African Union decides to readmit Morocco
African Union re-admits Morocco after 33-year absence Addis Abeba, Ethiopia | AFP | The African Union decided Monday to allow Morocco back in the fold after a 33-year absence, despite stiff resistance from some member states over the status of Western Sahara. After an emotional and tense debate, member …
Read More »Chad’s Moussa Faki Mahamat is new African Union chief
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Chad’s foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat was named Monday as the new AU Commission chairperson, beating four others to succeed South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, diplomats told AFP. Several delegates leaving the election hall confirmed the win, while grinning Chadian delegates hugged each other in …
Read More »Eyes on East Africa’s Amina, Kagame at African Union Summit
ISS AFRICA| Top of the agenda of the 28th African Union (AU) summit on Monday in Addis Ababa will be the election of a new chairperson of the AU Commission (AUC). There are five candidates for the position – two more than in the previous, inconclusive, round of voting in July …
Read More »Sudan on Trump list, summons US charge d’affaires to protest ban
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan on Sunday summoned US charge d’affaires Steven Koutsis to protest President Donald Trump’s visa ban which has already prevented some of its citizens from flying to the United States. The foreign ministry “expressed its displeasure” with Trump’s order to bar Sudanese and citizens from …
Read More »By picking fight with Mexico, Trump shocks key partner
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | By picking a fight with Mexico, US President Donald Trump is needling a strategic partner that could retaliate with a trade war and less cooperation on immigration and the drug war, analysts say. The neighboring countries face the biggest diplomatic rift in decades over …
Read More »US-Mexico tensions rise as meeting scrapped, wall tax looms
Washington, United States | AFP | US-Mexican relations were rocked Thursday as Donald Trump’s administration suggested taxing imports from the southern neighbor to fund a border wall and Mexico’s president scrapped a meeting with the US leader. Trump had been scheduled to receive Pena Nieto at the White House on …
Read More »UN Security Council renews call for more troops in South Sudan
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council stepped up calls Monday for regional troops in South Sudan, to help a UN contingent already there stem ongoing violence and stave off a brewing humanitarian crisis. Olof Skoog, UN ambassador from Sweden, which holds the rotating Security Council …
Read More »China’s Xi calls for world without nuclear weapons
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a world without nuclear weapons at the UN on Wednesday and urged a multilateral system based on equality among nations large and small. His speech at the United Nations in Geneva came at the end of a diplomatic tour …
Read More »Gambia’s president-elect to stay in ‘exile’ in Senegal until his inauguration
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | The inauguration of Gambia’s president-elect Adama Barrow will go ahead this week, his spokesman insisted Sunday, as he landed in neighbouring Senegal to wait out the final days of President Yahya Jammeh’s mandate. Jammeh has refused to cede power after disputing the result of a …
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